Mese: Agosto 2018

Written by Anthony W.DePrato WA4JQS

With sincere regret, we learn that Mr. Peter Short VP8WA of Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, became a SK 2 weeks ago.

Peter was a member of the South Sandwich Island DX Group. Peter was very hard working helping with our 1992 #1 Most Wanted DXPED VP8SSI and again in 1994 with our #1 most wanted DXPED 3YØPI to Peter the First Island.

Peter also helped later dxped’s going to South Sandwich ,South Georgia, and Peter 1st. He was the first and only RTTY QSO for many hams from the Falklands. Peter along with Marshall VP8PU and his XYL Dee VP8QG were for many during the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s the only VP8 QSO’s.

Sadly they are all now QRT for the most part. Bob VP8LP who also helped with all the SSI-DXG and later dxped’s is now the only active Ham in Stanley for the most part.

I was the QSL manager for all,  but Bob VP8PL and still have the logsfor the following VP8’s: VP8PU, VP8QG, VP8WA, VP8ZV, VP8NJ, VP8QJ and VP8BZL.

Tony WA4JQS / VP8BLZ, Anthony W.DePrato WA4JQS since 1962

Cq Dx Hall Of Fame # 35, Dxcc Honor Roll, Dxpedition Of The Year 1992 VP8SSI.  Dxpedition Of The Year 1993/1994 3YØPI.

Calls held: VP8SSI, 3YØP,I VP8BZL, V31SS, ZD8JQS, WA4JQS/ZS1, WA4JQS/KC4, WA4JQS/4K1

TNX WA4JQS / VP8BLZ & Maxi, DL-SWL

Monday 27 Aug at  20:09:24  a moderate magnitude earthquake at a depth of 64.0 km in open waters did strike the South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Epicenter latitude/longitude was 61.85° South, 58.5° West

The earthquake was felt also at the Korean King Sejong Station (WAP KOR-Ø1) and  in the Chilean Antarctic Base Pres. Eduardo Frei Montalva-Villa Las Estrellas (WAP CHL-Ø5),  54 km SW from epicenter.

Comment from the personnel overwintering at Arctowsky Polish Antarctic Station (WAP POL-Ø1) was: today between wind gusts we felt something new; – an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale-.

Details at: https://www.earthquaketrack.com/r/soth-shetland-isl…/recent

The Australian Antarctic Division has paid tribute to a former Chief Scientist, Professor Patrick (Pat) Quilty AM, who died on Sunday (26 August). Professor Quilty led the Division’s science program for more than 18 years from 1980–1999 and published more than 200 scientific papers.

The Australian Antarctic Division said long-serving former chief scientisProfessor Quilty died at the weekend at the age of 79.

After graduating in 1962 with a Bachelor of Science with honors from the University of Western Australia, Professor Quilty first visited Antarctica in 1965 as a field palaeontologist with the University of Wisconsin.
He received his PhD from the University of Tasmania in 1969.
AAD director Nick Gales said Professor Quilty had made an outstanding contribution to Antarctic science.

 

WAP sends personal heartfelt sympathies on the loss of Prof Pat Quilty to his family and to the whole AAD.

Thanks to our HAM friend Juan Manuel Pereda LU4CJM,  this post reflects the  worries that rise to world level!

What we can do, is to share this and hope that something can change before it’s really too late.

 

 

 

Approximately 54 billion tons of greenhouse gases are emitted each year, mainly from the burning of fossil fuels.
The UN believes that these emissions should be reduced to 42 billion tons by 2030 to curb global warming below 2 degrees.

Three University of Queensland researchers are among a group of 100 female scientists from around the world taking part in a year-long leadership scheme culminating in an Antarctic voyage.
They are part of the fourth group selected for the prestigious Homeward Bound program, which aims to create a global network of women in science who can influence policy and decision making.
The Institute for Molecular Bioscience’s Dr Anna Vinkhuyzen and Hana Starobova and Dr Emma Kennedy from the Global Change Institute have teamed up with fellow Queenslanders, Bianca Das and Karen Aitken from CSIRO, to raise funds for the trip.
A three-week trip to Antarctica is the summit of a year-long journey, where the participants explore leadership, strategy, and how to extend the reach of their science message through virtual meetings and an online curriculum. The Queensland scientists will work and learn with colleagues from across the globe, despite their diverse research interests.
The fourth ship sails from Ushuaia, Argentina on 19 November 2019 and will visit several different research stations in Antarctica.
Read more at: https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2018/08/women-science-setting-sail-antarctica

Spring is coming in Antarctica; rainbow above Holy Trinity Church at Bellingshausen Station (WAP RUS-Ø1), King George Island; world’s southernmost Russian Orthodox church.
Correction from Wessex Weather: it’s probably not a rainbow because it doesn’t appear to be raining; more likely a fogbow or cloudbow (some navigators call them white rainbows).
Photo: Vitaly Boldin, AARI

Thanks and credit: https://www.facebook.com/TheAntarcticReport/photos/a.906628919420995/1756443784439500/?type=3&theater

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists have tracked krill populations in the southern oceans for years, but for the first time, they plan to use autonomous computer-driven drones to help with the basic research.

Krill are tiny crustaceans that are a key building block of the food web in the southern oceans. The shrimp-like creatures feed whales, seals, penguins and people. The tiny animals are known for their large underwater swarms.

NOAA scientists have tracked fluctuating krill populations for years as part of an international effort to better understand the food web in the Antarctic.

Click on the gif aside to see an interesting video of this project.
“We study krill so we understand whether its trends and abundance are likely to be influenced by how much fishing effort we do, but also whether that fishing effort will impact the upper trophic levels like penguins and seals,” said Christian Reiss, a senior researcher at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla.

But packing up a research vessel and traveling to the bottom of the world takes time and money. Both are in short supply at a federal agency that is keeping a close eye on shrinking budgets.

Thanks and credit to: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2018/aug/16/san-diego-scientists-use-drones-antarctica-researc/ where you can get more

WAP  joins the day of National mourning for the victims of the collapse of the Morandi highway bridge in Genoa.

Inaugurated in 1967, the Morandi viaduct served as the main East-West artery linking Genova and the entire southern Mediterranean. It was a key logistics point for trucks loading and unloading containers in Italy’s biggest gateway port, as well as the heavy car traffic towards different higways.

 

On 11:36 Tuesday morning, August 14th, the towering concrete icon of national pride collapsed into a jagged heap, swallowing carloads of innocent passersby, crushing the dreams of dozens of families leaving the whole country upset

 

Our sympathy and our deepest condolences to the families of the victims.

The 2018 results of  Arctic Challenge , Antarctic  Challenge , Polar Challenge ( Arctic Ch + Antarctic Ch ) are available online via :
http://french-polar-team.fr/Polar_Trophy_files/Polar%20Trophy%20Scores.pdf , where the full list can be seen

About Antarctic Challenge the 1st 20 Hams on the 2018 list are:

 

 

The French Polar Team’s website (http://french-polar-team.fr ) is dedicated to amateur radios and Short Waves Listeners (SWL) fascinated by Polar and Sub-Antarctic Rregions.

 

Mehdi F5PFP  and Michel F6DWQ have created the Polar Trophy in the  aim  to stimulate the radio contacts with these regions as well as with the Polar ships. This challenge is subdivided in the Antarctic Challenge and the Arctic Challenge.

TNX  Michel F6DWQ & Mehdi F5PFP for the great job!

Today on all Australian Stations flags are flying at half mast in honour of Geoffrey Reeve who passed away at Casey in 1979. ( pic aside shows Casey Cross at Reeve’s Hill)

Geoffrey Basil Reeve, was the first Casey expeditioner to die while serving in Antarctica; he died of exposure and hypothermia in 1979 during a blizzard.

August 1979 at Casey Base, Antarctica: Geoffrey Reeve died of exposure after he became lost in a blizzard 10km from Casey. He was the senior electrical fitter-mechanic at the station, and deputy officer-in-charge. Early in August Mr Reeve was one of six members of the winter party who camped at Robinson Ridge, a rock out-crop about 10km from Casey, to undertake maintenance and biological observations. On August 5 he was moving in the camp precincts when he was caught in a sudden blizzard which reached a speed of 96 knots. Other members of the party found Geoffrey Reeve unconscious less than a kilometre from the camp. A search and rescue team, including the medical officer, Dr K. de Jonge, was sent from Casey by tractor, and brought Mr Reeve back to the station. Further resuscitation attempts were unsuccessful. Mr Reeve’s family asked that his body be returned to Australia for burial. It will be flown out from Casey on one of the two flights which a United States Navy Hercules will make from McMurdo Station in the first week of November.

Source: https://antarcticsociety.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Antarctic.V8.11.1979.pdf

In spite of the famous saying “below 40 degrees South there is no law; below 50 degrees South there is no God” the exploration of the continent was in fact closely connected to religious activities Jesuit  geophysicists. Some of the early religious buildings are now protected as important historical monuments. Antarctica has various places of worship and an increasing demand for religious services and construction of sacred architecture on the Continent

Jesuit is the largest single order in the Catholic church, with more than 19,000 members by its own count, and a presence on every continent  including Antarctica, where Jesuits have been chaplains and, in keeping with their order’s reputation as the church’s intellectual powerhouse, even scientists. Jesuits have a 60 year history in Antarctica. In 1951 a 27 year-old French Jesuit scholastic (seminarian) and here below are some of them:

Rev. Pierre-Noël Mayaud (1923-2006), was one of 17 scientists who sailed on the polar exploration ship Commandant Charcot to spend 12 months at  Adelie land, the French sector of Antarctica.  Mayaud had become a Jesuit in 1941 at the age of 18. Permission for him to join the Antarctic expedition was given by Fr.  Jean-Baptiste Janssens, who was at that time the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, because it was believed that the experience he gained in Antarctica and the scientific work he did there would be a great asset in his future work as a professor at a Catholic university. Later in his life Father Mayaud, a geophysicist, was member of Conseil National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). See:  https://antarcticjesuit.com/2013/01/04/french-jesuit-in-antarctica/

 

The Rev. Edward C. Bradley (* 18 july 1928, +8 june 2011, aged 82), was a Philadelphia physician who became a Jesuit priest when he was 50  In June 1979, the month before his 51st birthday, he was ordained as a Jesuit priest. for 18 years, Bradley had been one of the University’s most ambitious and adventurous Jesuit scientists, operating a state-of-the-art seismology station and challenging students in the classroom, all the while regaling everyone with stories of his adventures—particularly of his trip to Antarctica and his explorations at the bottom of the world

 

Father Michael Smith Australian Jesuit, visited the South Pole in December 2012 when he was a chaplain to the US base in the Antarctic (pic aside).

 

Father Dan Doyle (1932-2014) has been the leader of New Zealand’s Antarctic Ministry for the past 15 years, spending 14 summers at the Antarctic base as priest to a maximum summertime population of 2,000. In the winter, when the Antarctic falls dark, the population drops to about 150 essential staff.